July 2004 Archives

OK, so I'm back from the cruise. We watched some good shows in the style of Cirque du Soleil, complete with an opera singer from Belarus. There was a 21-year old midget from China whom I could have sworn seeing back in Singapore's Millennia Walk. I suppose he goes places... I also lost everything I put in the casino, which is a sign that I will probably have to work hard to earn my keep for the rest of my life!

There were probably a couple hundred mainland Chinese tourists and nearly 600 Indians, so you can imagine many exciting things happened around the buffet table. A Chinese man and an Indonesian or Taiwanese lady were involved in loud altercations during one of the shows, each shouting that the other had no manners. The few Singaporeans around were actually fairly well-behaved. We stopped over at Penang, then at Phuket. Both were enjoyable day trips.

But on board, everybody was over-eating! How could you possibly have a huge breakfast, a huge lunch, a big tea and then a huge dinner? Grossness! I starved myself for our last two meals (tea and dinner) and still felt full at midnight, back in Singapore.

However I made the mistake of going to the gym on the last day of the cruise. Less than twelve hours later, after an intensive upper-body workout involving my suspension in the air, doing body crunches, we were all crushed together in the port, fighting for our luggage with what felt like a thousand other people. I couldn't possibly let my old folks carry their heavy suitcases, so I did. What did not help was that they only opened one exit for all of us to squeeze through. I think our port is nowhere as well-run as our airport.

Anyway. See that cheesy picture at the top of this post? I have to resort to using a free image editor for OS X until I get my darn Macromedia Studio MX problem sorted out. It's an absolute shite story; if you read my letter to Macromedia below you'll see what I mean.

I will be going on a cruise for the next four days, so take care and I'll catch up with everyone when I get back (or if I find an internet connection on board). Ta!

A hearty congratulations to Jay Allen for winning the Movable Type 3.0 plugin developer's contest.

Considering what previous versions of MT-Blacklist have done for my battle against comment spam (and for many other people too), I can't wait to try out his prize-winning entry.

ps. Come on, Jay, take the G5!

[Update: From what I see in Six Apart's list of winners, it appears Jay has taken the G5. In fact he will have the same system as I, except he's getting a bigger screen.]

After over a week using my new G5, I have come to a few conclusions:

Office 2004 for Mac is better than Office XP for Windows. In particular, I love Entourage (for email) far more than I ever liked Outlook. It searches more efficiently, and has a project management feature which I actually use. It also traps spam quite intelligently; I read in a MacWorld review that the algorithms have been greatly improved.

If I ever had to save one department in Microsoft, I'd choose the Macintosh developers.

Other points. Plug and play does well on a Mac, sometimes so subtly that I don't even realise my new memory card or thumb drive has been detected. Of course, forcibly ripping out a device without 'ejecting' it prompts a similar warning that you get in Windows.

After many hiccups, third party music software is now working fine on the G5. Big thanks to my uncle for fixing that.

Sibelius is an amazing program for writing scores of your MIDI music. I haven't tried it on a PC but obviously when you're running on dual processors, everything is fast ;-) I like the idea of 'score-as-you-play'.

I am also going with Logic (when I earn more money) because, as some of you say, it should work pretty well with its new owners, Apple.

On the minus side, I am not going to use iPhoto for organising my pictures, because it doesn't respect or understand my deep hierarchies of folders.

iSync seems to work only with Apple's own Address Book and iCal. I have to import contacts manually to Entourage. I really miss my Nokia PC Suite, because I was able to browse my phone's directories, select all my snapshots and transfer them in bulk to my hard drive. iSync doens't seem to be able to locate any files in my phone. There are probably too many different devices for Apple's software to cater to.

The Bluetooth connection is working well enough, a little more consistently than the dongle on my old PC. I am quite impressed with my Apple wireless mouse and keyboard, although the battery level on my mouse has dipped to 3 out of 5 bars. I hope this isn't going to be too costly to upkeep. I am nonetheless grateful that there are less wires to grapple with.

Writing my own music to CDs has been a breeze. I transfer what I play from my KORG keyboard, via my M-Audio card, to either GarageBand or Reason, and export the song to WAV/AIFF format.

If I use GarageBand, I can save it directly to iTunes, then either burn it on a CD-R or upload it to my iPod. It is all very neat.

My display, though now outdated in design, is holding up well. You gotta love Apple cinema displays. The only problem is finding wallpaper wide enough for 1680x1050.

Oh, what a tragedy.

I should have publicised this a few months ago, but better late than never. A handful of Singaporeans who believe and trust in the virtues of Web Standards, is forming a local community.

Since I still get a healthy number of referrals from Web Standards authority Jeffrey Zeldman, I will take this opportunity to spread the news to everyone who's possibly reading this.

Nearly a year ago, I was pretty cynical of the reception that web standards was getting with most clients and web designers themselves.

To date, I haven't notice much improvement in the industry, although I was glad to know there were at least eight (8) other individuals - at present time of writing - who cared.

Do you care, too? Contact Jaime via this form, and join the force.

The fight is on! The front page of the Straits Times, Singapore's main broadsheet newspaper, features the latest challenger to the iPod - Creative's Zen Touch.

It also has a 20GB capacity, and looks suspiciously like the iPod (white, oblong body with blue screen), though Creative say they were doing digital players two years before the iPod came out (that's nice to know but in the tech world, it doesn't matter if you were there first if you don't improve. A good example: Netscape).

Anyway, if you want to make a chronological comparison, I am sure the iPod design came out first ;-)

While I generally respect Sim Wong Hoo's innovative ideas and business acumen, and am proud of homegrown companies making it big in the international field, it will be up to the market to decide if it really is better, or more saleable, than the iPod. Not what anyone - he or Steve Jobs - claims.

First of all, contrary to what Sim says, I do not think it looks better than the iPod, as it has a more cluttered interface.

I also think it is unfair to claim it can hold twice as many songs than the iPod. Someone should actually test the quality of this special Creative format first. I'm quite happy with my CD-quality Apple Lossless Format, even if that means my iPod holds less songs. I'm also happy with the quality of my AAC files. Of course if you have mostly WMA files then the iPod is not an option.

Admittedly, the iPod's improved battery power cannot beat the Zen Touch's claim of 24 hours. However the iPod also looks much slimmer than the Zen Touch. It's like choosing between a slim laptop that looks good, and a bulkier one that can last longer.

What the article fails to touch on (probably due to time and space constraints), are the extra features that both devices have. At least I know I can check my Calendar, Contacts and play games on my iPod while listening to music at the same time.

Also, it is very difficult to gauge usability, which I feel is very important and often ignored in tabulations of rival products' features.

If you want to start getting your hands dirty with comparisons, then lay out your cards for both players and see if they match up. I'm curious to see if Apple can hold on to its 50% market share.

ps. If anyone's tried out the software for the Zen Touch, please let me know how intuitive it is. I found the Creative Muvo interface confusing and cluttered - especially when compared to Apple's iTunes. Also, are Creative's products usable on Macs, not just PCs?

Friends: don't try calling my mobile number in the next couple of days. My phone company might have disconnected my line, because today I received a letter worded in red ink (how that improves visibility, I have no idea).

The letter says I did not pay my June bill, citing a payment cut-off date which was two days ago (gee, thanks for telling me now).

I was bewildered as I have been dutifully paying my bills for the last four years. I use a common payment system called GIRO (to the non-Singaporeans, here's a simple definition of what it does).

However I didn't realise that my June bill (which took into account the calls I made while in the US) exceeded my GIRO limit. If and when I do get disconnected, they can only re-connect me a day after payment is received. On top of that, they will charge me a reconnection fee. On top of THAT, I still have to pay subscription fees for the period where I'm disconnected. How draconian can they get?

There is a gap in the system somewhere. My bank didn't tell me the bill couldn't be paid last month, and my telephone company didn't tell me I've gone past my payment cut-off date until it was too late.

However, both organisations are good at sending me promotional emails and text messages which I do not need. Now isn't that an effective, customer-centric use of resources?

[Update: SingTel didn't disconnect me, and on my latest bill they charged me for reconnection, then cancelled that fee (i.e. I didn't get billed for it in the end). Hallelujah.]

[overriding update: Good grief, things are happening faster than I can blog. Here are the real details on the new iPod, not just hearsay.]

So the blogosphere is waking up to the news of the latest iPods (at least according to my feedreader, whose spidey-senses are tingling with the growing excitement).

Some sources say there's no 60GB iPod yet, though it's only a question of time I'm sure. Others predicted a file size increase. Hopefully there will be a price decrease...

Nice blue screen. I see they've gone back to the first generation button layout. And the same white colour.

And I'm sure glad they did something about the miserable battery life, though it still can't beat some other digital music players.

After trying numerous ways to get my HP Laserjet 1000 printer to work with Mac OS X, I hit upon a brilliant idea: Contact HP directly for it. (Duh.)

However, while I was filling up the Asia Pacific support form, I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to help. This is why:

Despite all my oohs, aahs and bahs over the past three days (has it been that long already?), the G5 PowerMac was purchased with one main purpose: To serve as the main component in my home music studio.

Yesterday evening it embarked on its true life mission, when I installed the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 audio card with MIDI.

In simple English, it means it can take audio input (such as microphone vocals and guitars) as well as digital input from music keyboards. I then hooked it up with my Triton Extreme.

In my first attempt, GarageBand worked OK, although I was trained in Logic and require more than the basic features. However there are alternatives. Last night I recorded a trippy sort of loop with Reason Adapted, which came with my M-Audio card, and now with full MIDI functionality, I think I can much more than clicking and dragging a mouse.

You can now read vantan.org in its full, naked glory by subscribing to this feed. Thanks to this simple RSS Customisation tutorial.

I'm grumpy. Despite advice from my readers, I can't seem to get that danged HP driver to work. It just doesn't recognise the driver.

I wanted to import some Firefox bookmarks from my PC. However when I hooked my old computer back up again to the power line and home network, the mouse device couldn't work. In fact, anything to do with USB, didn't work, including my card reader. Everything that used to work, 1.5 days ago, couldn't work anymore. I didn't uninstall any drivers. I tried to re-install them anyway and was told they were already there.

So I had to open files, FTP, deactivate Macromedia Studio MX, back up my Outlook mail, all using a keyboard. I will forever proclaim the glories of the Tab button, and condemn all programs that do not use the hallowed Tab, to the deepest pits of Infernal Fire.

Another gripe (generally, not for OS X in particular) is the difficulty of importing and exporting Contacts, Mail and other information from one mail program to another. Why do people make it so difficult? Why are certain programs excluded from the import list? Why does it seem so difficult to import or export anything in Thunderbird? Why can't my Mac Address Book sync up properly with every mail program?

Also, Studio MX refused to let me activate my product on the G5. I assume the server hasn't been fully updated yet. I will try again tomorrow.

Bah. I go to bed tired and grumpy.

I only had about 4.5 hours of sleep today, thanks to my new Mac fetish. While I was able to accomplish most of the items on my 'to-do' list, I did feel disappointed that I have so far been unable to:

• Find an OS X driver for my HP LaserJet 1000 series printer. HP only has OS X printer drivers for the LaserJet 1010, which do not work. No, they don't even have a OS 9 version for the LaserJet 1000, either.
• Get Mozilla Thunderbird to import my Address Book exactly the way I want it. Some of my contacts' fields have been mixed up.
• Locate the other computers on my home network. Maybe I should attend the free Home Networking seminar at Apple Centre Orchard tomorrow.

Also, my G5 hung for the first time today. I was unable to force-quit an installation of an upgrade for Stuffit Expander which had stalled, because it didn't even appear on the list of active applications. I tried switching to my sister's user account but there was no response. When I did a physical reboot, I was taken to the usual Login window - but this time, my user name wasn't there, just my sister's.

So I clicked on 'Cancel', and got taken immediately to a black DOS-like screen! There, I could see a log being created of all the startup applications running. I tried hitting some commands on my keyboard but that didn't help. After that strange diversion, I was taken back to the main login screen, and managed to log in as myself. Everything seems normal now.

I used to think this would only happen on a PC, but now I think it's just me. I jinx all my computers. I made a brand new PowerMac, running on dual 2.0GHz processors with 1GB of RAM, crash. Admittedly, I tried to install StuffIt at the same time as Microsoft Office. But isn't this the second fastest personal computer model in the world (the fastest being the 2.5GHz PowerMac)? Didn't they say, Macs never crash?

However this isn't an anti- OS X rant. Many problems involve external applications and I am sure there are workarounds to them. Thank you, kind readers, for all your Mac tips. I have found them extremely valuable.

On a more positive note, I have been able to:

• Record a track in GarageBand in a matter of minutes. The sounds are pretty good, actually (though nothing, yea, nothing, compares to a Korg!). However I really ought to connect my music keyboard to the G5 (after I purchase a MIDI adapter), lest I click my mouse to death.
• Convert my GarageBand track, as well as WAV files exported by my Korg Triton Extreme workstation, to AAC files which were then transferred to VanPod.
• Plug-and-play external USB devices like my memory card reader. There I was, expecting some Hardware Wizard to pop up, Windows-style, when all I had to do was insert my CF card and it appeared on my desktop. Duh.
• Watch a DVD. I hardly ever watch DVDs. What's with this zoning thing? I can only change my region five more times and I'm feeling thrifty.
• Gaze at my photos in a completely different way (yes I'm still doing it). A winning combination of iPhoto and, most definitely, the brilliant display.
• Turn off my computer by pressing a button on my monitor. I just love doing that. Also, activating the display controls the same way.
• Discover other websites dedicated to OS X tweaks. Like this one.

Things I have done while in the process of switching from PC to Mac, in chronological order:

• Wiring the 20" display to the G5. Fitting in wireless keyboard and mouse with batteries. Starting the computer for the first time!
• G5 detects the wireless mouse and keyboard. I wonder why the connection to both devices is so shaky. Then I realise it's because I hadn't plugged in the Bluetooth antenna at the back of the G5.
• I plug in the ethernet cable. G5 immediately connects to the home network / internet. I register my hardware with Apple.
• I run the software updater. Lots of programs need updating.
• Computer speakers are plugged in.
• I test out iLife's pre-installed programs. I visit kottke.org to see what Jason means about being blinded by his own site's colours on his Cinema Display. I visit Zeldman to see why he raves so much about smooth fonts. Then I visit my own site. I think Safari is nice, but why doesn't it have tabbed browsing? [OK guys, I get your message, I stand corrected. Safari does have tabbed browsing!] I decide I still prefer Mozilla Firefox. Yeah!
• I answer a couple of emails.
• My mobile phone pairs and syncs with G5, after an initial problem with memory shortage on my phone. I view my contacts in the Address Book, and my schedule in iCal.
• G5 meets VanPod! Music files and documents are transferred.
• In the meantime, I decide I'm not entirely happy with the default Mail program. I think I'll get Thunderbird. Yeah!
• I realise that I need to export my default Address Book to Thunderbird. I learn of this handy Address Book Exporter.
• I learn of a software treasure trove for OS X. However I am not going to do anything fancy until I figure out how to get my printer working...[Update: Drat! HP does not have a driver for the Laserjet 1000 series. And no, installing the driver for Laserjet 1010/1150 does not help.]
• Oh, Glory to God in the highest ... I had no idea my photographs looked so good, until I saw them on my cinema display. Heavenly!
• I start looking for desktop wallpaper and other fashionable accessories. I just found this.
• My eyeballs are popping out. I already darkened my oh-so-brilliant and sharp-looking screen, but to no avail. I'm going blind, folks. I'll continue tomorrow.
• Yeah, right. I'm having my second wind early this morning. Now I'm looking for newsfeed readers and all-in-one messaging programs for OS X.
• More to come...

The G5 has arrived. Unfortunately, Apple were unable to get me the latest 20" screen, so I've grudgingly settled for the old design (which is still decent I guess) at a small discount.

Excuse me while I cull my PC ...

While tidying up my shelves, I discovered a few old CDs of 'audiophile' quality and decided to rip them in iTunes, using the Apple Lossless Encoder.

However, iTunes was unable to update any of those files!

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? For starters, I am not short of space, and every CD I ripped was legitimately acquired. I am on a PC using Windows 2000 and so for have not experienced any other synchronisation problems.

After doing a quick search on Google, it appears that other people have encountered the same problem:

My 2nd generation iPod, around 18 months old, cannot play Apple’s new Lossless encoded music ... I want to know why this is happening. If Apple can allow me to upgrade the firmware on my iPod so it can play their “better” AAC files, why can’t they do the same for the Lossless Codec?

[Update: I just learnt that you need to update iPod's firmware to play it. Hope this works...]

Today I decided to check the news using my Nokia 6600 WAP browser.

This was what I got on CNet, in chronological order:

1. Microsoft works on Office search

   Firm is working on ways to allow users to easily find information stored on hard drives, such as documents, e-mails and data files.

2. Microsoft staffer charged with stealing search code

   Worker allegedly took data after leaving AltaVista but before signing on at Microsoft, which is deveoping its own search technology.

Hmm. The plot thickens?

I want to thank the Lord for giving me the strength to get through the most difficult period of my life, and for lifting me up when I was down.

I have just received an offer from a company I did like to work for, with a position I knew I would like to fill. More details to come once everything's been finalised.

As a Christian, I've come to realise that there is no point relying solely on my own strength to pull things through. Submit entirely to His will and be patient, for His reward will come in time.

For the last couple of days, my server was subjugated to a bad case of Murphy's Law.

My web hosts had associated the links in my admin panel with an old domain of mine which expired a while ago (which I wasn't planning to renew). That is to say, there were quite a few broken links about. So I asked them to fix it.

But it wasn't as simple as updating the url, site wide. They told me that all email addresses going to vantan.org would have to be re-created.

Fine, I thought. Just do it quickly and get it over with, so I can generate the email accounts again. In the meantime, I set up a catch-all email address so I wouldn't lose incoming mail.

However, there were more problems with my domain. After they had reconfigured the admin panel, they wrongly assigned vantan.org to point to the wrong folder, an old website of mine.

I wrote in to tell them to please point vantan.org to the correct folder on their server.

They happily wrote back, saying that vantan.org had been redirected.

I took a look. My website was redirected, all right - to http://vantan.org/vantan!

First of all, that changed the URL of my blog. Secondly, as Movable Type uses absolute links by default, my web page was chock full of broken links. I couldn't even log in to my MT panel to change the url, because after logging in, it directed itself to the wrong page.

They did fix the link, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Too soon.

Then my CGI-BIN folder couldn't be located via my browser, although it was still there when I logged in to the server via FTP. Somehow, they fixed that, too.

Next, Serdar kindly informed me that 'www.vantan.org' didn't quite point to my website, although 'vantan.org' was fine (!!!!).

So now I'm waiting to hear from technical support again, praying that this is the LAST time I need to bug them about this.

And in the meantime, please key in 'vantan.org' without the 'www'. Thanks.

[Update: Everything should be fixed and you can go back to using the 'www' if you're used to it. I hope this is the last time I am writing about it!]

My web host is making some changes to my configuration and I won't be able to use my usual email account for a while. I'm told the emails may bounce. So please don't send me anything confidential.

If you really need to reach me and you already know my old email address, use the same format: [my username] [at] gmail.com. Cheers.

[Update: All should be well now.]

What sort of pop songs are raiding the airwaves these days? After refusing to listen to local radio for the last few years (because I thought most of the music was shite), I realised I actually need to listen to what the masses like, if I ever want to make a living out of it.

Ironically, because I have always refused to use illegal methods of music acquisition, I'll probably pick up one of those Now! compilations at my favourite CD shop.

My impression of a lot of popular music (at least on MTV) goes like this:

Boom-boom, chika-chika, "yeah, yeah... uh uh uh..." [insert sexually provocative lyrics here], boom-boom...

Of course I still think there are a few good ones around which still have tunes - though I wonder if that is going out of fashion!

Oh, an update on my quest for music software: I downloaded a demo of Reason, and the interface is absolutely beautiful. Check out its front and back images.

A perfect hardware substitute? You can literally tweak the little knobs in front, yank out the wires in the back picture and plug them into another inlet. And yes, it has a MIDI editor but that looked pretty much like anyone else's, so it's not in the screen capture.

And of course, it is a fairly new player in a market with big boys Cubase and Logic.

Have you ever seen US Secretary of State Colin Powell dressed as one of the Village People? (let's not go into his singing skills)

Have you heard Bill Clinton play the sax? Or Tony Blair, the bass guitar?

You can, in the video on this BBC Report. Good stuff!

This is to officially announce that I am working the re-production of three demo songs. (Announcing things like this will hopefully put me under greater pressure to keep to my schedule).

A few of you might remember two of these tracks. It's been years and my style has changed drastically, but do the math: typically jazz or electronica will not sell as well as a mainstream pop/rock song - even if I myself don't like most of the stuff I hear on the radio.

As a compromise, two demo songs will be R&B and the last, latin jazz. Lyrics need revamping; everything will be re-produced with new Triton sounds, hopefully with the aid of the G5 and some decent software.

I do not intend to promote myself as an artiste but as a songwriter. I already have an A&R agency in the States who can help me, but only if they feel my music is good enough - and that's a very reasonable requirement.

On top of that, one of my latest jazz compositions might (I emphasise the 'might') be recorded by a professional band for an album, which will be played in an international hotel chain. This was totally unexpected, because it really wasn't my best work, though it was decent, and I hardly practised before the performance, so I didn't expect anyone to get excited about it.

Don't tell me the standards in the international market are going to be pretty high. Of course I know that. I've heard that so many times that I might as well not get out of bed, or tie my shoelace, or breathe. I bet that's what the Beatles were told by the first few recording companies who refused to sign them on. And I bet only the people who didn't give up, despite all the spit they got in their faces, were the ones who succeeded.

And that's what's been keeping me busy. Freelance web design work, computer classes, and my music.